Cortana
by CaptainImpaler
Summary: Defeating the Didact, and Cortana's disappearance through the Master Chief's thoughts.
1. Chapter 1

**I stuck very closely to the cutscenes from Halo 4, and I hope I didn't screw with Master Chief's character too much! I don't own Halo, just the slightly compromising position I put the Chief in:)**

John's hand was burning, but he kept holding on. Five fingers clenched the precipice of the light bridge with enough force to crack his bones. Only one hand weakly held him. The Master Chief's body swung out to the side, and his eyes were full of the vision of some dark swirling matter that loomed below him.

"_She's sacrificed so much for me, and I won't let her down..._" he said to his head, prodding his muscles to keep moving. He paused for a moment, confused with his own thoughts. He had sounded somewhat affectionate… "_He wouldn't let __humanity__ down,_" he revised.

He swung his other arm toward the edge of the bridge and the momentum allowed his hand to capture the rounded surface. His muscles were hardly working, but he pushed on. Forcing his body to inch back onto the light bridge, he caught sight of the Didact, shackled down by Cortana's multiple rampant holograms. The nuke that desperately needed to be detonated was far out the Master Chief's reach, so he was forced to improvise.

But he seemed to be quite good at that.

The cogs in his brain began to work, and before he could send any commands to his muscles to carry out his order, he was already racing forward with all of his might. He felt a Promethean grenade clutched in his hand that he didn't remember retrieving. As the Master Chief shoved the object at the figure on the floor, he was suddenly overcome.

It hadn't worked.

He must've missed somehow… John was suddenly yanked into the air by the forerunner's immense power. He struggled, but of course it was futile. But John fought, like he always would. Nothing was a lost cause as long as there was one fool left to fight for it. Two fools, in this case… He thought briefly of Cortana.

A loud sound beat on the Master Chief's mind, and he was pulled back to reality as quickly as he had left it. John's eyes suddenly snapped to the forerunner's, and it registered in his mind, like a brick smashing into his brain. His grenade had made it to it's destination…

The explosion seemed to echo throughout the chief's mind for hours; the feeling of a lost hope now recovered. The Didact's eyes turned lost before a blank look overcame them. He clutched his chest and tumbled over the edge of the light bridge, lost to a seemingly endless oblivion.

John was released from the force of power that shackled him to air, but it was not over yet.

After he watched the forerunner disappear, he threw himself in the direction of the nuke. This ship needed to be destroyed before any more harm could come to earth… That was the mission. As long as he was alive and breathing, he would complete the mission. That was how he was programmed.

Two ton weights must've been strapped to his feet, because he was moving in slow motion. His muscles would falter, and the thought of failing would terrify him enough to keep moving. When his hands finally landed on the explosive object, he wasted no time. Without another thought, he slammed the top of the nuke, investing all of the energy, all of the life he had left.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hope you like it so far! All of the spoken dialogue in this chapter is taken straight from the cutscene, and I'm still sticking as close to the cutscene as I can! Again, I hope I'm not killing the Master Chief's character too much. Again, I don't own Halo! But damn, I wish I did.**

He expected to feel some sort of pain, but there was nothing. Everything was completely blank. He could feel nothing, see nothing, hear nothing…

But he still had his thoughts. Although he should've felt empty, it was seemingly the opposite. His being, if there even was one, was filled with some sort of emotion he couldn't quite comprehend. He had done the right thing. For all of humanity…

For her.

His heart swelled in his chest at the glorious thought.

Suddenly, his mind screeched to a halt. If he were dead, he certainly shouldn't be able to feel anything. That's when it hit.

A fraction of a second later, every tangible pain wracked every corner of the Spartan's body, and he became aware that he was still very much alive. Air tore through his raw lungs, and he could feel ribs cracking in protest at the forceful breath. He realized he could open his eyes, and when he did, a blinding light that seemed to explode from nowhere streamed into his open eyes, although he did nothing to ward it off or resist it. No other noise registered in his ears but the sound of his own ragged breathing. He also registered that he was crouching down, which seemed impossible since he couldn't feel his legs at the moment.

After contemplating the situation and reorganizing for the next move, he became eerily aware of something that was not there. An immediate and uncharacteristic pool of panic twisted in his gut as a hole began to spread throughout his crushed body. Where was the voice that always helped him assess the situation for a Plan B? Where was his partner who always knew what to tell him?

Where was Cortana?

He didn't realize at first that he was searching for her voice to ask him if he were still alive, or what their next plan of action would be. He was expecting to hear her calculating, and explaining as soon as his ears recognized sound again. But there was only silence.

"Cortana." He rose up. He looked around. Silence. "Cortana, do you read?" he insisted, keeping most of the panic out of his voice. "Cortana, come in!" That one, he noticed, was a little more desperate. He turned around suddenly, when his eyes fell upon her.

Relief washed through him like warm water, defrosting his frozen heart. She was walking toward him, contemplating him. He was mesmerized at first, and thankful that his helmet kept her from seeing how he was gawking at her. She was fully human sized… He took a few hesitant steps toward her, extending an arm. He wanted to reach out and touch her…

"How…?"

"Oh, I'm the strangest thing you've seen all day?" she smirked. The Spartan retracted the earlier thought about his helmet. John wished she could see the smile that spread across his face, ear to ear. But her face quickly fell. As did his.

"But if we're here…"

"It worked," she said as if she were speaking to herself. She smiled. "You did it... Just like you always do…" There was a hint of admiration to her voice, that seemed to also be mixed with terrible sorrow. He glanced around and noticed where they were. Some sort of glowing light barrier. He started formulizing an escape plan.

"So how do we get out of here?" There was a few moment's silence before he looked at her.

"I'm not coming with you this time." He stared at her blankly. The words didn't register in his mind. He mulled them over in his head, trying to search for their meaning.

"What?" It was more of a statement than a question. There was almost anger in his voice. After everything they had accomplished… She says she's not coming with him this time?

"Most of me is down there…" She admitted quietly. Her head gestured to somewhere down below them. "I only held enough back to get you off the ship…" she continued weakly.

"No, that's not- We go together." Desperation was creeping back into him.

"It's already done…" The breath was knocked out of him. This didn't make sense. This was impossible. He was a Spartan, _SHE_ was _HIS_ partner. They worked together. She- she was obviously shaken from the previous battle.

"I am _NOT_ leaving you here." Perhaps a more forceful statement would shake her out of whatever state she was in.

"John…" It was nothing more than a frail whisper, a desperate sound with a power to make his heart crack. His name on her lips made the Spartan shiver. She had never said his name before… But now, he wished that she would be the only one to speak his name for the rest of his torturous life. She completed the gap between them, and her hand reached out for him. He held his breath, although she could not hear it hitch. Her hand made contact with his shoulder… The place where their bodies touched sparked a blue glow.

Never had he ever wished so badly that his body was free of clinking metal that constantly trapped him within himself; keeping him a soldier.

Although he could not feel her, he pretended. He pretended it felt wonderful.

She let out a shaky breath while the Spartan still held his in his chest. To the naked eye, he looked unmoved. But how one tortured soul can see through another…

Her fingers lightly trailed down his armor perhaps an inch, and he heard her almost cry: "I've waited so long to do that…" She had waited so long to touch him… He quietly let out his breath. When he glanced at Cortana, her eyes were closed. He suddenly felt convicted. This was his fault. If he hadn't left her unattended for years, if he had known that the rampancy would tear her apart…

"It was my job to take care of you."

"We were supposed to take care of each other," she responded with a quiet, sad smile. "And we did," she added, her voice rising as if she were close to tears.

This couldn't be over… Every mission, she was there. Guiding him, helping him, understanding… Although John 117 was supposed to be one of the miracles for mankind, he was a machine. He had been stripped of his humanity long ago. But now, as he stood here, facing his partner, he felt something human overcoming him. He was lost for words. He felt…

He felt vulnerable.

"Cortana…" he said more quietly. "Please." What else could he do but beg? Did she not know how much she had come to mean to him?

He was beginning to realize that there was something more between them, which was hard to register because he wasn't made for this. John was sure that this wasn't in Halsey's plan when she decided to make him a Spartan. He was made to be a soldier. But something had bypassed this intended outcome.

Cortana's mouth opened, as if she were about to say something. But her hand slipped away from the Master Chief's shoulder, leaving him more empty than he was before. She began to back away. John's heart was pulsing in his chest, and he suppressed the desire to run after her. Surely, if she could touch him without reaching through him, he could take her in his arms, keep her from running away…

"Wait." The pathetic statement was all the Spartan could manage as he watched Cortana slipping away from him. He could only stare after her as she continued to abandon him.

Suddenly, John wanted to say something. Something entirely crazy that didn't even make sense to his advanced mind. He had seen it said between other humans, and watched the effect, but never had he wanted to say it himself… Or felt the desperate, pressing need to, since time was of the essence. Only a few more seconds until she would leave him…

Five.

He battled with himself fiercely.

Four.

He told himself he was crazy.

Three.

He took a breath and opened his mouth.

Two.

His throat was so dry and his tongue was stuck to the roof of his mouth.

One.

Here it goes…

"Welcome home, John…" Before he could let out a breath, she had interrupted. That was the last thing he heard Cortana say to him before she disappeared into nothingness. He only stood there, staring at her until she disappeared, and even staring for a while at the spot where she used to be. The barrier began to disintegrate around him, but he didn't even notice. He was still frozen; frozen with so many different human things, that his whole body locked up. It was a while before he even looked around to see pieces of the Didact's ship crashing around him. The last thing John registered was the UNSC Infinity opening up their ship to let the drifting and lost Spartan into its hollowed embrace.


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't own Halo, but gosh I wish I did. Again, all dialogue is from the game, and I still stuck as closely as I could to the cutscenes!**

The Infinity was drifting silently, the earth in perfect view. The Spartan stared out the large windows at the beautiful planet, swirling with whites, and greens, and blues… To think that if the Didact had destroyed this planet, the universe would be robbed of something truly beautiful. He was taken out of his quiet contemplation by a familiar voice.

"Mind if I join you?" The Master Chief raised his head, and turned around quickly as if he were surprised.

"Of course not, sir," the Chief replied, his low voice rumbling.

"At ease, Chief. Feels kinda odd for you to call me sir." Commander Lasky joined John at the window.

"Beautiful, isn't she?" The commander asked as his eyes roved out to the planet before them. "I don't get to see her often enough." There was a silence. Perhaps Lasky was waiting for the Chief to respond?

"I grew up in New Harmony," he continued, "Attended Corbulo Military Academy." He looked at John. "Never saw Earth in person 'till I was an adult, but… I still think of her as home." There was more silence. Lasky shifted a little uncomfortably, while the Spartan remained where he was. "You don't talk much, do you?" The Commander's question was answered with John's continued silence. They both stayed quiet, but the Master Chief could feel Lasky pressing to say something.

"Chief, I won't pretend to know how you feel." John then realized the Commander's true intentions of being with him. But he said nothing, only listened.

"I've lost people I care about, but…. Never anything like you're going through." The Chief was stoic.

"Our duty," John responded, "as soldiers, is to protect humanity. Whatever the cost."

"You say that like humanity and soldiers are different things." The Spartan mulled this over for a moment before the Commander continued. "I mean, soldiers aren't machines…" John's head snapped to Lasky, hearing something he had heard before, and was desperate to make sure he knew who exactly it was coming from. "They're just people…" The Commander finished.

"I'll let you have the deck to yourself," Lasky commented quietly, when he realized he would gain no response from the soldier. As the Commander left John with his thoughts, The Chief said out loud: "She said that to me once. About being a machine."

Cortana.

Thoughts of her welled into his brain, chiseling away pieces of his heart that he did not know existed. Cortana always knew what to do. She always had a plan… Which meant _HE_ always had to have a plan. And the plan was to search. Search for her. He didn't know if it was his brain plunging deeper into denial, refusing to accept the fact that she was gone, or if he honestly believed that she never left, but he would search the ends of the universe for her. He would accept no other partner, or stop until he found her.

Because John 117 was in love with Cortana, and he would spend his life searching to tell her, or die trying.


End file.
